. William H. Seward's travels around the world. me, and their thin white veils, whichcover their faces, leave exposed, with bewitching effect, eyes andeyebrows, the latter delicately painted. We have passed a thou-sand harems on our voyage to-day, and if any woman looked uponus she would only have done so through the close lattice of herbalcony. Verily, the Mohammedan is a comfortable doctrinefor the stronger sex. For, while women are thus carefully secluded,every piazza and window on either side of the Bosporus is filledwith Turks in groups, in pairs, and single, sitting cross-legged orloungi
. William H. Seward's travels around the world. me, and their thin white veils, whichcover their faces, leave exposed, with bewitching effect, eyes andeyebrows, the latter delicately painted. We have passed a thou-sand harems on our voyage to-day, and if any woman looked uponus she would only have done so through the close lattice of herbalcony. Verily, the Mohammedan is a comfortable doctrinefor the stronger sex. For, while women are thus carefully secluded,every piazza and window on either side of the Bosporus is filledwith Turks in groups, in pairs, and single, sitting cross-legged orlounging on divans, surveying the passers-by through fumes ofchibouque or hookah, and over uncounted glasses of sherbet. After this excursion we can no longer wonder at the cautiousjealousy with Ottoman Porte insists upon holding the A TURKISH GIEL. 645 Bosporus as a closed sea. Unlike any other strait of the world,the Bosporus, with its termini in the Sea of Marmora and theBlack Sea, would open to all nations, rivals or enemies as well as. TURKISH GIEL IN A HAREM. friends, a navigation not only through the very heart of the capital,but through the very heart of the empire. The Bosporus, therefore/while it is an ornament, is a constantperil, and a constraint upon the national independence. Nor is itto be supposed that the Ottoman Government fails to understandthat its political and religious institutions, customs, and manners,encounter the prejudices of all the Christian nations, and that thechief security for peace with each lies in the ineradicable ambitionsof the great states of Europe. The banks of the Bosporus are not without the appearance ofmilitary defences, which, however, seem Mellnigh worn to pieces Q±6 EUROPE. with age. The shores, as you approacli the Black Sea, present asuccession of barracks and encampments well filled with chief protection of the passage consists of a navy of twentyiron-clad steam-frigates, all of which are kept constantly in ?
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